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The Most Peculiar Mental Illnesses

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Hollywood movies often depict people with mental diseases as weird, scary, or
dangerous to others around them. However, unless you are a specialist, in reality it is
rarely possible to recognize a mental illness in a person—even a person you
communicate with often. People tend to hide such health problems; moreover,
sometimes they can even be unaware of having mental issues. So, the stereotype
about psychotic weirdos that mass culture actively enforces is, mildly speaking,
exaggerated. At the same time, it is true that some mental illnesses can severely
distort one’s behaviors, perception of reality, cognitive functions, and emotional
reactions, which may make them potentially dangerous to themselves (in the first
turn), and to people around them. For example, some forms of schizophrenia can be
accompanied by violent and/or suicidal tendencies; or, Alzheimer disease can
severely decrease the quality of a person’s life, and even lead to harm. And, although
these diseases are certainly severe and can manifest themselves in a number of
peculiar ways, there are mental illnesses that are stranger than fiction.

All of us are aware of the popularity of zombie movies. The walking dead have
become an irreplaceable element of contemporary mass culture. What is more
shocking is that there are people who fit the description “living dead.” People
suffering from Cotard’s syndrome develop a delusion that they have died. Despite
indisputable logic that dead people cannot walk, talk, or think, patients with Cotard’s
syndrome cannot shake their delusions off. For example, in 2012, Japanese doctors
reported a man who addressed a hospital with the complaint about being dead. He
wanted to get a second opinion just in case, but for him it was a fact. After
approximately a year of therapy, the man got rid of the symptoms, but he still
believed his condition was real. The same happened in 2008 with a 53-year-old New
York lady who suddenly developed a conviction that she was dead, and smelled of
rotting flesh. She asked her relatives to deliver her to morgue, so that she could stay
with other dead people, but instead she was directed to psychiatrists, who quickly
returned her back to normal. Sometimes, people with Cotard’s syndrome believe they
lack organs, intestines, or limbs. For instance, Jules Cotard, who was the first to
describe the disease, once treated a young woman who had developed a firm belief
 that she was missing her brain, chest, nerves, intestines, and that she was, generally
speaking, hollow inside. At the same time, she believed that she was an immortal
being, and had no need for nutrition. She died of starvation awhile after meeting
Cotard (Mental Floss).

Continuing the grim topic of the living dead, there is an extremely odd disease called
the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. Although it is not entirely a mental disease, and has
both physiological and neurological underlying conditions, it manifests itself in a
rather extreme “psychotic” way. In particular, those who suffer from Lesch-Nyhan
tend to mutilate themselves, and in some severe cases even eat parts of their own
bodies (usually lips or fingers). It is said that in 60% of the cases, patients with this
syndrome need to have their teeth removed in order to avoid dealing themselves
severe trauma; fortunately, self-cannibalism is a less common manifestation of this
syndrome. The Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is in general connected to impulse control
issues, and is found almost exclusively in boys (Alternet).

Perhaps everyone knows about paranoia—a mental condition generally

characterized with the sensation of being observed, followed, controlled, or
manipulated. However, fewer people have heard of the Fregoli delusion—a condition
that is characterized by a complex and peculiar system of beliefs a patient develops.
In particular, the Fregoli delusion makes a person think that people he or she knows
closely have been killed or kidnapped, and then substituted by impostors. People
with the Fregoli delusion are afraid that these impostors impersonate people they
love, and then follow them. Specialists are not sure about the origins of the disease,
but assume it might develop because of organic brain damage (Stockton, Richard).

Mass culture continues to display mental illnesses as dangerous psychotic

conditions. Although it is not necessarily true, and many people with mental diseases
are harmless and mostly self-absorbed, there are some exotic psychological
conditions Hollywood would gladly put on screen. One of them is Cotard’s syndrome:
a disease during which a person develops a belief that he or she has died, or is
missing one or multiple vital organs, or is immortal and does not require nutrition. An
even more exotic sickness is the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, which is characterized,
among other symptoms, by self-mutilation and self-cannibalistic tendencies. There is
also the Fregoli delusion—people suffering from it believe they are surrounded by
impostors impersonating people dear to them. These, as well as other similar
conditions, are rare, but still dangerous and requiring medical treatment.

Works Cited
“10 Case Reports of Cotard’s Delusion.” Mental Floss, 2 June 2013,
mentalfloss.com/article/50197/plight-living-dead-10-case-reports-
cotard%E2%80%99s-syndrome.
 Gummow, Jodie. “12 Quirky Mental Disorders You Haven’t Heard About.” Alternet, 2
May 2014, www.alternet.org/personal-health/12-quirky-mental-disorders-you-havent-
heard-about.

Stockton, Richard. “5 of the World’s Weirdest Mental

Disorders.” AllThatsInteresting.com, 3 June 2014, allthatsinteresting.com/weird-
mental-disorders.

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